Research reveals structure of key CRISPR complex
Researchers from MIT and the Broad Institute have teamed up with colleagues from the University of Tokyo to form the first high-definition picture of the Cas9 complex — a key part of the CRISPR-Cas system used by scientists as a genome-editing tool to silence genes and probe the biology of cells. Their findings, which are reported this week in Cell, are expected to help researchers refine and further engineer the tool to accelerate genomic research and bring the technology closer to use in the treatment of human genetic disease.First discovered in bacteria in 1987, CRISPRs (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) have recently been harnessed as so-called genome-editing tools. These tools allow researchers to home in on “typos” within the three-billion-letter sequence of the human genome, and cut out or alter problematic sequences. The Cas9 complex, which includes the CRISPR “cleaving” enzyme Cas9 and an RNA “guide” that leads the...